The Winklevoss twins are back with another Facebook lawsuit

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The battle between the Winklevoss twins seemed all but over after they announced yesterday that they were dropping their case against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that was headed to the Supreme Court. But Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss along with partner Divya Narendra are back today with a brand new lawsuit. If you were disappointed with yesterday’s news to settle the case, you’re in luck as there’s a whole slew of new Winklevii vs. Zuckerberg legal battles to come.

The original lawsuit, which inspired the movie “The Social Network,” was filed in 2007 and accused Zuckerberg of stealing their social network idea. Yesterday, the twins announced they were dropping a case that alleged that Facebook didn’t disclose the proper value of their shares when they reached a settlement in 2008 for $65 million in stock and cash.

The settlement in 2008 was for $45 million in private Facebook shares and $20 million in cash. Obviously, since Facebook is now worth $100 billion, Facebook shares are worth quite a lot and their settlement now is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. When the case was seen in California, the judge said the deal appeared “quite favorable in light of recent market activity.”

We thought maybe the twins realized a three-year-long battle to get more than a $65 million settlement was a wash and that’s why they decided to drop their case with the Supreme Court yesterday. However, it seems the Winklevoss twins had something else up their sleeve as the news broke today of another lawsuit being born.

The claim, brought to a Boston, Mass. court, pertains to a slew of instant messages between Zuckerberg and his associates from 2003 and 2005 that leaked last year. The messages show that Zuckerberg planned to hold off on his work for the Winkevoss twins’ social network so that he could create his own social networking site first. The claim says that Facebook should have disclosed these instant messages when they created the original 2008 settlement. The lawsuit begs the question of whether Facebook “intentionally or inadvertently suppressed evidence.”

The twins basically said that if they had known about the content of those instant messages during the case, they wouldn’t have agreed to settle. A Facebook attorney called the charges “old and baseless,” so we’re not sure this case will go anywhere further than a Social Network sequel.

Speak Your Mind

Anonymous

While I think they received more than enough from the original settlement (making them way more money than they would have made with their own site) I dont mind zuckerberg being sued for being a lying jerk.

Tom Tucker

Facebook should just shut down and give up already; it doesn’t stand a chance against the Wrinkleless bros.